Former Uruguayan President Jose Mujica announces esophageal cancer diagnosis

Uruguay's former guerilla-turned-president, Jose Mujica, widely known as a leftist icon who transformed his small country into one of the most socially liberal in all of Latin America, said Monday that he has esophageal cancer.

Mujica, 88, said he was diagnosed during a routine medical checkup last Friday. He said the tumor discovered in his esophagus is particularly dangerous because he also suffers from an autoimmune disease.

"This is obviously very complicated and doubly so in my...